re: #648 talon_262

re: #633 Dark_Falcon

I disagree…at that point in time, Pryor was brash and brazen, a maniac (who was freebasing his ass off, literally later on down the road), while Little was more urbane, a smooth character.

I can’t imagine anyone other than Cleavon Little as Bart, the way the final movie was written (and I think Pryor had a lot to do with it, behind the scenes).

Little was funny in an understated way, Pryor would have been over the top manic and hilarious, totally conistent with Brooks’ best movies.

Your timeline of Pyror’s demise is off by a few years. Sure, he was using druges, but his best roles, from Lady Sings the Blues to Silver Streak to Blue Collar to Greased Lightning were all in the mid 70’s, contemporaneous with Blazing Saddles. His downfall, both creatively and physically, began in the early 80s.